Bradley shutdown could cost 250 jobs for BAE Systems in York County

In this file photo, a line of Bradley vehicles are lined up at the BAE facility in York County. (Daily Record/Sunday News -- File)

Neil Bailey can't walk down the line at BAE Systems without being asked a question:

"What are you hearing?"

Everyone is on edge. The Bradley Fighting Vehicles the plant manufactures for the U.S. military are a target for more than just enemy insurgents.

They're on the table for funding cuts, including a proposed minimum three-year shutdown in production, as the U.S. Department of Defense looks to reduce costs in a peacetime era marked by sequestration and budget constraints.

Bailey, an assembler at BAE, is the president of United Steelworkers Local 7687. At the West Manchester Township plant, the union represents 646 workers - 102 of which are on layoff.

The site, which employed 3,000 people at the height of the Iraq war, now employs 1,250.

There's a first shift and a "skeleton" second shift, Bailey said.

Over the next few months, another 175 people are scheduled to lose their jobs due to contracts for the Medium Mine Protected Vehicle, which will end this spring.

Another 250 direct manufacturing employees could be immediately laid off if the government doesn't reverse its decision to shut down the Bradley program for at least three years beginning in 2014, said Alice Conner, director of manufacturing, integration and deployment for BAE Systems Land and Armaments division.

That's 250 off the bat - not counting the support staff, maintenance and related functions, she said.

"We have laid off a lot of people, because that's what needs to happen," Conner said.

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"We get that ... We will continue to shrink. What we're asking for is not to shut down."

BAE Systems estimates that shutting down and restarting the Bradley line in 2017 could cost up to $750 million.

The company and a network of 586 suppliers would lose a trained workforce specializing in armor welding, precision machining, assembly and other Bradley-specific skills, Conner said.

Last year, BAE spent $19.5 million on products from 115 suppliers in York County, site spokesman Randy Coble said.

"Our suppliers would feel it first," Conner said. "They supply the parts sometimes a year in advance."

To deter the Army from shutting down the program, BAE is proposing several measures to shrink the Bradley base, while keeping it "warm."

The first step involves keeping workers occupied by moving several scheduled Bradley upgrades forward in time, Coble said.

"We have these ideas that we want to put back into the fleet so our soldiers can have the best equipment," Conner said, "but if we go cold, our soldiers will stay with current technology."

In addition, the company is lobbying Congress to increase its work on the M88, which recovers and tows the military's heavy combat vehicles.

This would involve "pure-fleeting" the military's M88A1 vehicles to the upgraded M88A2s.

The third step to avoid the Bradley shutdown, Coble said, is for the Army to allow BAE Systems to convert a number of Bradleys from Calvary to Infantry versions - a need the government has stated before, he said.

The Bradley Fighting Vehicle comes in more than 10 different varieties.

There are no plans to shut down the York County BAE Systems site, Coble said, adding that the site performs a variety of other functions.

At the moment, the site is even competing to work on an amphibious armored vehicle for the U.S. Navy.

BAE hopes find out the fate of the Bradley program in the next few weeks, Conner said.

A House appropriations bill awaiting approval by the Senate gives $140 million for the Bradley vehicle, which would keep the line in operation through the end of next year.

And even if the Bradley line shuts down, there are no plans to shut down the York County BAE Systems site, Coble said.

But, over the years, the site - measuring 1 million square feet - has continued to grow empty.

"When you think about the cost to restart versus the cost of keeping a very small flexible production line going," Conner said, "we believe it's an investment and a good deal."

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